Importance of Fruit Nutrition Garden

Dimpy Raina and  Monika Gupta

In modern times, it is necessary to take nutritious food to make a person in good health. Fruits are a balanced diet which contains all the essential elements. But when we buy fruits from the market, apart from being expensive, they are also sprayed with chemicals. Therefore, try to eat clean and nutritious fruits. A model of fruit nutrition garden has been prepared by Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. This model is to get fruits all year round at domestic level. Through this model, 22 different types of fruit trees are grown in an area of ​​625 square meters (25 m x 25 m). The Fruit nutrition garden provides the family members all kinds of essential nutrients like calcium, phosphorus, iron etc. Fruits are a long-term crop, so it is important to have right selection of fruits, type, direction etc for better establishment and yield. Evergreen fruit trees and deciduous trees should be planted separately. Very tall trees like mango, litchi, jamun, sapota etc. are recommended to be planted in the northern part of the home garden so that they get shade. Citrus fruits and guavas can be planted in the inner part of the garden and deciduous fruit trees like apple, pear, peach, plum, pomegranate etc. can be planted in the south-eastern part. Papaya and banana can be cultivated in the last row on the southern side. On the eastern side, different varieties of grapes can be planted on the Y-trellis method. Karonda and Phalsa on the western side and sweet lime on the northern side should be planted as a hedge.

Important points for establishing a nutritious fruit garden

Before establishing nutrition garden always follow the recommendations for selection of different varieties of fruit plants, time of planting, layout, basic maintenance of garden, training pruning, fertilizer application, watering , insect pest management and harvesting.

The right time to plant evergreen fruit plants like Citrus plants, mango, and guava litchi is February-March and September-October. Deciduous fruit trees are planted in winter, when they are in dormant stage. These plants should be planted by mid-January before the new flower begins, such as peach and plum. Plant the Pear and grapes by mid-February.

The layout of fruit nutrition garden should be planned before digging and filling holes for planting. Layout should contain provision of road, water pits and paths between the garden etc. Dig pits one meter deep and one meter in diameter for each plant. Put topsoil and manure in equal quantity in these pits and fill them up above the ground. 

Water them before planting. After watering, if the soil in the pit has settled, then add soil on the top surface and make it level with the ground. Put 15 ml of Chlorpyrifos 20 EC in each pit. Mix 2 kg of soil and put it to protect it from erosion.

In grafted plants care should be taken while planting that bud union near the root zone remain above ground. It should not be covered with soil and water. 

In addition, organic way of making nutrition garden following methods like use of mulch and straw/plastics for weeds, farm yard manure, manure for feeding, spraying of neem compounds for insect control, PAU fruit fly traps for fruit fly etc. All these measures also reduce the use of pesticide chemicals.

Take measures to protect fruit plants especially papaya and banana from frost. Apart from this, it is very important to protect newly planted plants such as mango, litchi, Amla and guava plants from cold and frost.

Farmers are advised to get plants for fruit nutrition garden from authentic nurseries like the nurseries established at Ludhiana, Ladhowal, Bathinda, Gurdaspur, Bahadurgarh (Patiala), Gangiyan (Dasuha), Jallowal (Jalandhar) and Abohar.

Recommended varieties of fruit crop for Fruit Nutrition Garden